Swans

Yeah.

We were playing a, a warehouse gig in LA with The Swans the night that D.

Boon died in Arizona or New Mexico, wherever it was, and, uh, and I was actually playing his amp on that, on that gig the night that he, the, the night that he died.

I mean, I think he died later in the evening than our show was, but that was pretty devastating.

But it is very absorbing and it is very kind of breathtaking in its audacity at the time.

Branca's early groups, apart from involving the Sonic Youthers, perhaps unsurprisingly also saw people like Michael Guerra and Dan Braun of Swans, who went on in their own way to be... mischievous with volume if you like volume became very much a characteristic of swans concerts in the early days i think at one time swans held the record for the um loudest concert to be held in london um which wouldn't that wouldn't surprise me yeah i think um that got superseded by a number of different metal bands and so on afterwards but they did for a while hold that title But as I say, Branca died in 2018.

He left a body of work which is nothing if not fascinating.

And this music was one of those moments in 1983 that kind of made you lift your eyebrows and go, hmm, that's different.

Yeah, I don't mind the Dell Vikings.

Yeah, no, there's the Swans.

The Swans were the big ones, I think, in the duo.

I can't remember.

But, you know, wartime, you know, we'll meet again, Andrew's sisters kind of things.

I, I've thought about it since then because now this is, you know, this is a conversation that's happened a few times.

I'm like, "Is that really true?" And the only other instance I could think of was, uh, of being asked for something that I might have said yes to was The Swans.

But then, uh, because it's another band that for me has been as, as important as Neurosis in some ways.

But I know too much about The Swans and about what a, um, authoritarian leader Gira is apparently.

And not only that, but they tour like fucking maniacs.

So you know, that, that one probably wouldn't have been realistic obviously, nor was I asked.

Uh, and so, you know, all of those factors combined really made Neurosis the only band I could think of, um, that I would've joined had I been asked.

Yeah.

You know, he's got... like eight members in the band including uh members of sonic youth steve shelley on drums he's got paula frazier from uh paula fraser from tarnation he's got members of the ocs and other indie bands from for throughout the years uh what i love about this is this this sounds right in my wheelhouse is sort of elements of uh free jazz mixing in with post post punk that skronking saxophone So it's a really cool sound, big sound.

Reminds me, Latter-day Swans, you know how they sort of build up these kind of big

epic things? Symphonic, almost.

Yes, exactly.

there? So, yeah, it's rock and roll, but it has definitely its own quirky identity.

Various cool people playing on it, including Phil Puello of Swans and also previously Cop Shoot Cop.

The second reason I wanted to talk to Jack was because, well, basically, I think he's a bit of an underground rock and roll legend.

Yeah.

The label's willingness to press limited vinyls gave these sonic experiments commercial legitimacy in underground markets.

Swans, founded by Michael Gira, took punk's aggression and amplified it into an industrial soundscape.

They used repetitive drum patterns that mimicked factory work rhythms, creating hypnotic fatigue.

The band's live shows incorporated light sculptures and projected abstract visuals to reinforce a conceptual narrative.

Swans proved that punk could intersect with performance art without diluting its visceral edge.

The Cramps blended punk's energy with surf rock riffs to create a horror punk aesthetic.

Lead guitarist Poison Ivy's use of reverb-laden solos evoked haunted, echoing guitars from nineteen fifties monster movies.

Okay, great.

So my number 10 is by Swans.

It is Soundtracks for the Blind.

So for those not aware, Swans is an experimental rock band from New York.

Michael Gira is the mastermind behind everything and the only constant member.

And this is a very long, sprawling album that they made just before they broke up for the first time.

I'm your host, Lawrence Puryear.

This week, we're putting The Tone Arm's needle on producer and engineer Martin Biese, who's run Biese Studio out of the Gowanus section of Brooklyn since 1981, recording Sonic Youth, Swans, and Herbie Hancock's Rocket, amongst countless others.

We discussed his new album, Dancing on the Power Lines, his ongoing community activism, the changing landscape of New York's music scene, and so much more.

It's a good one.